Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

[garbagechild]

Who: Alphonse Elric, Envy, Greed, and Wrath.
Where: An ill-fated bakery. All around Goldenrod. The freakin' basement.
When: August 11th onwards! This is a catch-all.
Summary: The world has been pretty good to the various monsters and serial killers hailing from Amestris, but one particular villainous wild child has yet to be rehabilitated.
Rating: PG-13 for talk of abuse, manipulation, brainwashing, all that good stuff.
Log:

Continued from here.

Comments

Sorry for the delay!

[ossifragant]

[This is not something Greed would prefer to do.

Breaking the brainwashing Dante has put on the kid won't be easy; Greed knows how it goes, knows what eating the stones for the first time does, and if the poor boy has no memories of being human in the first place, well...

Let's just say he's grateful he actually did buy the boy a pretzel. He's been pretending to be this "Darius" for not enough. Coming clean will make him feel a little better, even though it's going to be all the same to the kid.

So he waits at the bakery, hoping they can do this without causing too much of a scene.]

that's fine, sorry for THIS delay!

[garbagechild]

<sub>[It's probably not something ANY of them would prefer to do. Least of all Wrath.]

[But it has to be done.]


[They don't have long to wait-- Wrath doesn't exactly have any other major social engagements to delay him, and the prospect of going out to spend time with his buddy Darius is exciting enough to make the kid move FAST.]

[He shows up within ten minutes of Greed's own arrival, popping right up around the corner.]</sub>

DARIUS! Hi! Hello!

evening of 8/20

[envy_the_sinners]

[ Most of Goldenrod City has likely already gone to sleep by the time a tiny Pokémon appears at the door of Shark House. A Skitty, to be exact. Scar's Skitty. Scar's sweet, tiny, fluffy, cold Skitty. His Zangoose hides around the corner, acting as Miriam's acting coach. This whole thing is her "brilliant" idea.

They have a plan.

A plan to get Scar off the streets, tonight.

Neither Pokémon, especially not Miriam, understands exactly why Scar is no longer welcome at Shark House. They don't get why he has insisted that they cannot go there. It's cold! They want to make sure he's going to be okay!

So here is Miriam, headbutting the door with her very limited strength before sitting back and trying to look as pathetic as possible for whomever may open the door. Shivering, eyes wide and glistening, mewing like a kitten, the whole works. She's even carrying a flower in her mouth, the traditional offering whenever she would visit Lust.

It's foolproof. ]

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy's the one who answers the door, looking around at eye level at first before catching sight of the shivering kitten on the doorstep. With a flower. Is this...?]

[Envy crouches down, holding a hand out to see if he can coax the Skitty to him. Whether or not this is Scar's kitten, the little thing looks so pathetic that even he can't just leave her outside. And he doesn't see Scar. He can just bring the cat in and be done with it right??]

And what are you doing here, come on over here.

[He takes a moment to call over his shoulder, hopefully not suddenly or loudly enough to scare her off:]

Hey, Greed!

8/11 Evening

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy hasn't been back down into the basement yet since they finally got Wrath down there; first they all had to go to the Pokemon Center for their battle wounds. Good thing for being able to post Pokemon guards at the door.]

[Envy almost doesn't want to go down and confront the kid yet. But he'll have to eventually anyway.]

[He's careful opening the door and getting in, just in case Wrath was waiting to try an escape. He's got a Pokeball in one hand.]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[It's probably a good thing for everyone's mental health that they spent a few hours out of the house and getting tended to by sweet, inoffensive pink-haired ladies. Because for quite a long time after being shoved down into that basement, Wrath did nothing but howl and slam himself into the door repeatedly. Incidentally, it's not smart to try and bull down a door at the top of a bunch of basement stairs when you're a skinny eight-year-old.]

[It's pretty much solely because of this that Wrath isn't RIGHT AT THE DOOR waiting to try and force his way through when Envy ventures inside-- he's busy licking his wounds.]

[In fact, he's not even in sight down there-- but judging by the sniffling coming from behind some boxes in the corner, he hasn't mysteriously disappeared at any point.]</sub>

8/20, AFTER the hobo has bathed - for Envy

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar steps out of the bathroom in his night clothes (read, an under shirt and some cotton pants) feeling refreshed. He's honestly not sure how long it's been since a proper shower, and he didn't even need to be told that he smelled (and looked) awful.

But he still looks tired. Worn out. The perpetual circles under his eyes are darker. He's a bit thinner. His hair is... mildly horrifying.

He lumbers down the hall toward the room he'd stayed in in the past. He's still paranoid that Lust will pop up from around a corner at any moment.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy's still not happy that Scar's staying here.

But if he does have to be, then...

Envy waits until Scar has gone into his unofficial guest room, because he doesn't want anyone else (namely Al) to get involved in this. He also doesn't bother knocking, instead just pushing the door right open and walking in.

He's not looking too great himself; he clearly hasn't been sleeping much, and with only a t-shirt and sleeping pants on, the bandage around his arm is visible now. As are all the other...everything that comes from dealing with Wrath. He also doesn't look like he's come in here just to be a shithead or even to screech obscenities at Scar, surprisingly. His mouth set in a weary line and his eyes are narrowed slightly.

Envy is one hundred percent Done.

"We're going to talk about a few things."

IT'S NOT A REQUEST.

late 8/20 - for Wrath

[envy_the_sinners]

The power's out.

Everyone's gone upstairs to fetch candles, but Scar has elected to stay downstairs with Wrath. He has extremely mixed feelings about the poor thing being stuffed in the basement, but there is barely anything he can do. As far as Scar knows, this boy is capable of killing in cold blood. He needs help, and he needs to not be on his own.

Whether or not the other homunculi are right for that...

Scar sits on the basement floor, legs crossed, Miriam curled up in his shirt to keep warm. He's trying to think of something to say to Wrath, but sits in silence while he waits.

[garbagechild]

It sure is.

Wrath is huddled in a small, shadowy bundle-- a BLOB in the darkness, really, against the wall across from scar. His eyes no longer reflect light in the dark like they once did, but their wide, glassy gleam is probably the most visible part of him. He and Scar have been staring at each other wordlessly for a good five minutes now, and it almost looks like Wrath isn't going to say anything at all.

... Until...

"... Are you going to kill me?"

August 11th, evening

[armoredsoul]

So. Today sure happened.

Everyone was worse for wear, after that chase and the Great Cleansing of the Garbage Child, and Al had more than his share of war wounds. Once everyone had patched themselves up again Alphonse had immediately pulled together a meal for Wrath. Something simple, just a ham and cheese sandwich and a glass of water; no reason to make anything complicated if it had an equal chance of going in Wrath's face and all over the wall.

He descends the stairs down to the basement, steeling himself for a moment before he slips into the room. "Wrath, I have some food for you."

[garbagechild]

Between his pride and the skin scrubbed THOROUGHLY in an attempt to remove months' worth of grime, every inch of Wrath is smarting. When Alphonse comes down the stairs, there's no sign of him at first-- that's because Wrath is UNDER the stairs.

Still damp and sulking in smoldering silence.

At the sound of Al's voice, Wrath says nothing, but snatches up the closest thing-- a coiled-up tape measure that had probably gotten lost down there while Envy and Greed were setting the place up-- and hurls it out from under the stairs.

It has no chance of HITTING Al. It's not even going in his direction.

It's just... Wrath expressing himself.

September 1st, Afternoon

[exeggutorhead]

[It had been a huge pain and a half to figure out exactly what made Wrath refuse to eat bread, and then to discover what kind he WOULD eat.]

[They don't have a resident chef anymore, their options for feeding the kid things that won't poison him are kind of limited.]

[But this DOES give Envy good motivation to work on being able to make grilled cheese like Henry showed him. He carries the plate with the mostly-decent sandwich on it down the stairs. He's still cautious about the door and keeping an eye out so he doesn't get tackled on the steps.]

Hey. Wraaath, you hungry?

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Progress has been frustratingly slow, but as the weeks have passed, they've at least gotten to the point where Wrath isn't growling, doing the stilted, arched-back angry kitten walk and occasionally flinging things at them whenever they come down the stairs. All the same, that's not to say that he doesn't occasionally make bids for freedom, so Envy's right to exercise caution.]

[Today, Wrath isn't in sight when Envy calls out, but judging by the reply that floats upwards from underneath Envy's feet, he's under the staircase-- where he'd dragged every pillow and blanket given to him (the ones that he didn't just RIP APART upon delivery) to fashion a sort of hodgepodge nest to hide in. Not that it's really a hiding place anymore. He's USUALLY in there.]</sub>

I don't eat traitor food.

_{[It's a fairly standard reply, but at this point he's kind of phoning it in. The fervor he had at the beginning has been dwindling. They're wearing him down.]}

[armoredsoul]

[This is an Al.]

[He is in Shark House.]

[Have fun.]







[I'm very tired.]

SOME MORNING

[exeggutorhead]

[After yet another night of Not Really Sleeping, when Envy staggers downstairs in the morning he just wants to have some damn stupidly-sugary cereal. And surprise, when he opens up the cabinet, there's actually a box of his favorite kind! He doesn't remember getting it, but maybe Greed had gone to the store and picked it up.]

[MAKIN' HIMSELF A BOWL OF THIS SHIT RIGHT NOW.]

SOME EVENING

[exeggutorhead]

[Edmund has been hiding from the young man that's taken up residence in the office. The stranger does seem friendly, but...Edmund is very shy. And he's well aware that the boy doesn't get along with Envy. He doesn't want to cause any trouble!]

[But one evening he catches sight of him reading a book, one that Edmund doesn't recognize, and he can't help going over to look. He's carrying his little notepad and pencil that he uses to communicate with the humans of the household.]

[The little ghost floats up behind Al's shoulder and gives it a little tap.]

Ya...?

Sept 19

[a_sin_for_him]

[Lust has been mostly ignoring Wrath in the basement. But she can't put it off any longer. By all reports he's calmed down some, and she's settled back into daily life relatively smoothly. Now she doesn't even have the excuse of being busy looking for a place to rent in Violet City, she's found one.]

[So come early afternoon, dressed casually in a black skirt and black and white striped shirt, with Guttle loyally at her heels, she slips into the basement. She lets the Spheal go first - Wrath's fond of him. Guttle rolls excitedly into the basement, barking happily to announce their arrival.]

[Lust has no idea what she's in for.]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[The basement is far from a gloomy prison-- there's lights and a comfy-looking futon in the corner (although it looks untouched), and the large spiky shape of a peacefully-slumbering Tyranitar lines most of the far wall. There's a small stack of activity books over by the futon (no writing utensils, though. They might have lost their strategic logic when Lust left on her trip, but it still doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that it would take about .5 seconds for Wrath to fashion a pencil into a shank).]

[But no Wrath in sight!]

[At least not until Guttle comes tumbling down the stairs and barking, anyway. Then there's a rustle from under the stairs.]</sub>

Hello?

... Oh!

_{[IT'S HIS ROUND BLUE FRIEND!!!]}

Sept 10th

[armoredsoul]

[Al had overheard Wrath and Envy with their little science lesson, and the talk that had followed. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but it had sparked a bit of jealousy with him, and left him feeling pretty guilty that he hadn't realized some of the things Wrath would assume about this whole mess.]

[Some of that couldn't be helped now...but he could get his foot in the door on educating Wrath.]

[Today he's coming down not only with food (out-of-the-box macaroni, this time) but with several books under his arm, all of them picture books with stories that he thinks Wrath will enjoy. It's hard to find stuff he could learn to read off of that has themes a homunculus will find amusing, but heck if Alphonse didn't try.]

Wrath! I'm coming down!

Sept 10th

[garbagechild]

<sub>[AH YES. THE COMPETITION FOR THE WOLVERINE-CHILD'S AFFECTIONS BEGINS!]

[At this point, Wrath is at least not really interested in attacking his captors anymore. Even his escape attempts have petered out. He's learned they're not worth the effort, and even though he still occasionally makes a run for the door, it's more on principal than anything else.]

[When Al announces his entrance, Wrath is lying face-down in the corner, bored out of his mind. He's already eaten most of the crayons (the only writing utensil that he'd been deemed probably unable to kill anybody with), and there's not exactly much ELSE to do down here.]

[He answers Al with a begrudging moan of greeting.]</sub>

October 4th

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath's concept of time has always been a little off-kilter-- between his long years spent within the Gate and his extremely brief existence shifting gears radically upon being transported here, it's no surprise that he doesn't grasp the passage of days and weeks overly well.]

[But even Wrath was bound to realize at some point that he'd been down there long enough for there to be a little... problem. A not-so-little problem. A really big problem, actually.]

[Which is why at roughly the crack of dawn on October fourth, nearly two months after he'd been taken, the familiar sound of a pair of tiny fists drumming on the basement door starts up again with renewed vigor.]</sub>

Hello? HELLO? HELLOOOOOOO?

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy was up and headed down to the kitchen to make some cocoa or something to occupy himself with that isn't the dreams that woke him, so luckily he hears Wrath before Henry does.]

[It's definitely more occupying than making a drink.]

[He hurries over to the door and taps quietly on it, whispering loudly enough to be heard.]

Hey, not so loud, I'm here. Step back and I'll come in.

[PLEASE DON'T WAKE UP HENRY. But besides that, Envy's finding himself...kind of concerned over what this could be about. Maybe it's just lingering unease from the nightmare, but he can't help but wonder if something's gone wrong, or Wrath hurt himself somehow.]

September 21st -- for Lust

[garbagechild]

<sub>[The number of activities Wrath could safely be allowed to engage in down in that basement were honestly limited. No sin worth their salt could handle a sharp or complex object without being able to come up with a number of creative ways to use it to kill somebody, and when you're small enough to essentially fit through anything big enough to fit your head, anything that could possibly aid in creating holes in the drywall was not remotely an option.]

[So like most mornings, 10:45 AM finds Wrath lying on his back with one leg sticking into the air, balancing one of the coloring books Al had brought for him on his foot.]

[It's probably one of the most mind-numbingly boring things he can occupy himself with, but it's something.]

[And he already ate most of the crayons, so...]</sub>

[a_sin_for_him]

[After breakfast and showering and dressing for the day, Lust surveys the gamboling mess of Pokemon in the living room and contemplates. She still has Rise's Eeveelutions, and all but two are full of energy. Guttle's exhausted already, and not many of her team play the way the Eevees like to. Except her own Eevee, who's tiny little legs are already tuckered out.]

Alright you lot, come on. I know someone who's not about to run out of energy.

[She herds the writhing mass of color and fur and ears toward the basement, and the all burst through as soon as the door's opened. Sylveon (a pair), Vaporeon, Flareon, Leafeon, Umbreon (three of them!)...]

[The basement is suddenly full of bounding evolved Eevees, eager to play.]

I brought some friends down to visit you, Wrath, I hope you're in the mood to play. They certainly are.

October 1st

[armoredsoul]

[Usually Al is the best sleeper in Shark House. Compared to everyone else, he's both the most well-adjusted and also the one that's actually used to a normal sleep schedule, despite not having slept for several years himself. So it's pretty odd to see him skulking about so late at night, his Umbreon trotting along next to him as a night light and his twin Sylveon following with worried looks.]

[He creeps carefully through the house, not wanting to wake anyone else from their hard-earned rest, and cracks open the basement door to slip down the stairs. Padding down on bare feet, Al pulls his blanket a little closer around himself.]

Wrath?

[garbagechild]

<sub>[For a moment or two, the dark basement has no answer.]

[Because FOR ONCE, Wrath was actually ASLEEP at night. Normally he paces around a lot. But he was curled up under the stairs in his weird makeshift nest. Al's call of his name makes him first only stir, but then come abruptly awake in that way that kids often do.]</sub>

... What?

_{[He sounds apprehensive. WAT HAPPEN????]}

OCTOBER 10TH: the prodigal son returns

[garbagechild]

<sub>[It's been a few days since they let Wrath go, and there hasn't been hide nor hair of him on the network.]

[Which probably isn't too surprising, all things considered.]

[But a few hours after sundown on the 10th, there's some vague scratching sounds at the glass door into the yard. Where a small, scraggly shadow is standing like some kind of ghoul, hands planted against the glass. He peers in, UNCERTAINLY.]</sub>

[a_sin_for_him]

[Lust is in the kitchen when she hears it. She's already changed for bed, in comfortable pajamas and bathrobe with her hair pinned up, and she's rummaging for a snack. She pauses at the noise, cocking her head. Has someone - possibly her - left a Pokemon outside that can't manage doors itself?]

[Bag of popcorn still in hand, she briskly heads to the door...only to blink in surprise at what's scratching to come in. So there he is. She'd wondered, she couldn't help it. But here he is. She flips on the light and clicks the latch for the door with a small smile.]

[She's surprised how glad she is to see him.]

Someone needs to teach you about doorbells. Come inside, I was just going to make some popcorn.